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TWENTY

KAEL

K ael had dozed between half-lucid dreams and full-bodied nightmares, each one bleeding into the next until his sheets were soaked with sweat and his chest ached like he’d fought something real.

In every dream, Selene died.

Sometimes by blade. Sometimes by fire. Once, most vividly—she was curled on the Stone of Binding, throat slick with blood, her hand still reaching for his even as the light left her eyes.

And every time, it was his fault .

He woke each time with a gasp, heart pounding, Mark burning.

It wasn’t just prophecy anymore. It was fear. Real, clawing fear.

He stared into the hearth now, boots propped against the edge of the stone, the flame’s low flicker casting shadows on the floor like ghosts circling closer.

She’d saved him.

He still didn’t fully know how. Just that one moment, he’d been lost—mind gone, body blood-soaked, beast in full control—and the next, she was there. Walking through the carnage like she had every right to drag him out of it.

She hadn’t yelled. Hadn’t flinched. She’d looked at him like she saw him. And he wasn’t sure what to do with that because no one saw him. Not fully. Not since… Elara.

His stomach twisted.

Elara had loved the heir. The prince. The idea of the throne and the promises sewn into his blood. But Selene?

Selene challenged him, fought him, kissed him like she was defying the gods and everyone else who said they didn’t belong.

And then she’d stared down a monster to pull him back to himself. She made him feel human. Not because of the Mark. Not because the bond said she should.

But because she chose to.

And maybe that’s why he kept dreaming about not being able to save her.

He clenched a fist over his thigh.

This was the part that was going to kill him. Because he couldn’t have her. He couldn’t keep her because he knew that these dreams weren’t just fear—they were warnings. Visions from the Mark. Premonitions soaked in magic older than the mountain itself.

She was going to die if she stayed close to him. If she stayed his.

A knock pulled him from the spiral.

He didn’t answer. The door opened anyway.

“Nyra,” he said without turning.

“Still brooding,” she said, boots echoing as she crossed the stone. “Impressive stamina. Even for you.”

“Not in the mood.”

She dropped into the chair across from him, flicking something off her boot. “You never are. Look, I just came to say she’s been walking the halls again.”

Kael tensed.

“She found the old Veilwalker room. You know, the hidden one.”

He looked at her then. “You let her go there ?”

“I didn’t let her do anything,” Nyra said with a shrug. “She found it herself. Smart girl.”

Kael closed his eyes.

She knew now.

About her bloodline. About what she really was. About why everyone wanted to use her like some keystone to a bridge they didn’t understand.

“You planning to tell her about the visions?” Nyra asked, too casually.

“No.”

Nyra raised an eyebrow.

“If she finds out, she’ll run,” Kael said. “Or worse, she’ll try to save me again.”

“She already did that.”

“That was different.”

“No,” Nyra said. “It wasn’t.”

Silence settled between them.

He didn’t have words for what Selene had done to him out there in the trees. Not the pulling him back part. The staying.

Like she wasn’t afraid of what she saw. Like maybe she understood it.

Nyra stood back up from the chair after a moment to leave. Before she walked out the door, she casually mentioned, “Oh, by the way, Selene wants to talk to you.”

After Nyra left, Kael sat there for another hour before finally rising.

He walked the corridors with no purpose. Just a ghost in his own home. Guards nodded. Courtiers kept their eyes low.

But he wasn’t hunting threats this time. He was trying to figure out how to be less of one.

As he ventured outside, he spotted Selene in the gardens.

The snow had softened, melting into damp stone and patches of frostbitten earth. She stood near the central fountain, cloak wrapped tight, eyes distant.

He almost turned around, but she turned first.

And gods, those eyes, Grey like a storm about to break.

“I didn’t know if you’d come,” she said.

Kael forced himself to speak. “I shouldn’t have.”

“Why?” Her voice was soft. Not accusing. Just tired.

Because I’ll get you killed. Because I’ll watch it happen and see it in my dreams until I join you. Because I don’t think I can survive that again.

Instead, he said, “You’re not safe here.”

She blinked. “That’s not your call,” she said.

“It is,” he growled. “It is now.”

Selene stepped toward him, chin tilted. “You think I don’t know what this is doing to you? You think I can’t feel it too?”

He turned away.

“You think the only one breaking here is you ?” she said, voice cracking. “I chose to bring you back. And I’ll keep doing it, Kael, even if you don’t want me to.”

He looked back at her, breath sharp. “I want you,” he said.

The words felt too loud. Too raw.

She stilled.

“I want you in ways I shouldn’t,” he said again, quieter. “And not because of the damn bond. Not because of what fate says we are. But because I see you, Selene. All your fire. Your defiance. Your stupid, stubborn heart that walks into danger just to drag me out of it.”

He stepped closer.

“I’m falling in love with you and it’s the worst thing I could do to you.”

Silence stretched. Wind rustled dead leaves at their feet.

Then Selene said, very softly, “Don’t you dare run from me after saying something like that.”

But Kael had already stepped back.

“I have to. I know you know what you are now. That’s good. Maybe you can protect yourself now. From everyone. From me.”

He turned and left without another word, feeling her eyes burn into his back. He wanted nothing more than to turn back around, but he kept the dreams, the warnings burning in his mind, reminding him why he was doing this.

It wasn’t for him.

It was for her.

It was the only way to save her.